Toothbrush holder



June 17, 1969 s. SIMETI 3,450,269

TOOTHBRUSH HOLDER Filed Jan. 10, 1967 United States Patent 3,450,269 TOOTHBRUSH HOLDER Samuel Simeti, 41 Ave. I, Farmingdale, NY. 11735 Filed Jan. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 608,320 Int. Cl. A47b 81/02; A46!) 17/02 U.S. Cl. 211--65 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Prior art spring loaded toothbrush holders often use metal stainless steel springs. Such springs are costly to assemble into the holder as well as being expensive. These and other disadvantages of using coil or metal springs are eliminated in the device of this invention.

This invention is illustrated by means of an embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the toothbrush holder attached to a vertical wall,

FIG. 2 is a section view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and showing the cantilever spring when biased against a toothbrush and,

FIG. 3 is a section view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

Turning to the drawing, the holder of this invention consists of two mateable molded plastic substantially half pieces or elements and 11 held together by securing means such as a bolt and nut 12.

The bottom or scoop like element 10 comprises a base 13 integral with three perpendicular side walls 14, 15 and 16. The bottom element 10 is further provided with integral molded brush separator walls 17 which also function to support the top element 11. The integral separator walls 17 are composed of two portions a full height portion 18 which engages and supports, the top or spring containing element, and a low height portion 19 which merely separates the adjacent brushes from touching one another.

The walls 14, 15 and 16 are provided at their top edge with a recessed ledge 20 to receive the top element 11 in a flush or planar relationship (FIG. 3).

The top element 11 is of unique construction in that a plastic integral cantilever spring 21 is molded therein by use of a bridge piece 22.

As seen in FIG. 1, the top element 11 comprises springs 21 each have a pressure plate 23 for engaging the rim of a toothbrush disposed sideways therein (FIG. 3). The pressure plate 23 is semicylindrical so that a tangential contact of the plate is made with the toothbrush.

The pressure plate 23 is integral with a connector bar 24 which latter is integral with the bridge element 22.

The entire top element 11 is of one piece molded plastic construction. However, elements 10 and 11 could be made of suitable metal if desired. The top element 11 comprises a front plate 25 a rear plate 26 and suitably rigid vertical connector walls 27 therebetween.

As shown in FIG. 1, the spring 21 may be visualized as an offset spring. This feature is very important to this invention because the offset nature of the spring 21 provided by the bridge element 22 produces a unique plastic spring with quick return and of little fatigue so that a long lasting spring is provided by polymeric stretch within the bridge element 22.

The holder of this invention is secured to a vertical wall by means of screws 28 and the inserted toothbrush 29 is biased between pressure plate 23 of the top element 11 and the base 13 of the bottom element 10.

I claim:

1. A two-piece all plastic toothbrush holder comprising a bottom substantially rectangular integral element having a planar base with a pair of side walls and a rear wall perpendicular thereto, and a top mateable integral substantially flat element having molded in place cantilever springs adapted to pressure seize a toothbrush between a spring and the base of said bottom element, wherein each of the cantilever springs are offset from the plane of the top element by a bendable bridge portion.

2. The holder of claim 1 wherein each of said cantilever springs is provided with a semicylindrical pressure plate to effect a tangential seizure of said toothbrush.

3. The holder of claim '2 wherein the bottom element is provided with a plurality of integral upright supports for supporting said top element and dividing said holder into a plurality of toothbrush holding compartments.

4. The holder of claim 3 comprising securing means for removably securing said bottom element to said top element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,128,984 2/1915 Holtzman. 1,272,010 7/1918 Ciglia 312--207 X 2,564,472 8/1951 Farnham 312206 X 2,725,270 11/ 1955 Upchurch 312207 2,911,173 11/1959 Deppe 248-113 CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

ABRAHAM FRANKEL, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R. 248113, 226 

